Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria he is using to assess the adequacy of the number of dentists.

Health Education England (HEE) uses population data to identify locations that may have an over supply or under supply of dental professionals in training, both currently and projected for future years. HEE is working to develop training allocation models to provide more places in those areas which are undersupplied based on this data, which is intended to address medium and long-term supply.

Data on the number of dentists who have carried out National Health Service activity by region during each financial year is published annually by NHS Digital as part of their NHS Dental Statistics collection. This, alongside other data held at regional level on the oral health needs of their population, is used to assess the adequacy of provision.